1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a mobile phone, such as a digital multimedia broadcasting (DMB) phone, a gaming phone, a chatting phone, a camera phone, an MP3 phone, a cellular phone, a personal communication service (PCS) phone, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a hand held phone (HHP), and the like, and more particularly to a mobile phone keypad for data input.
2. Discussion of the Background
A mobile phone is an electronic appliance through which a user may conduct radio communication with others. Radio communication includes for example, voice calling, message transmission, file transferring, video calling, camera functions, and the like. Further, the mobile phone may also serve as a personal assistant by performing phone number management and personal schedule management.
Mobile phones tend to be compact, slim, portable, light appliances. They also are moving toward providing multimedia availability and a wider variety of services, such as games and other forms of entertainment. In the future, the mobile phone may not have only a simple function for voice calling, but also may have a multi-function including video calling, gaming, Internet, camera, and the like.
Such a conventional mobile phone may be classified into diverse types taking portability or ease of use into consideration according to its external shape. For example, a mobile phone may be categorized as a bar-type or a folder-type. A bar-type mobile phone is constructed to have a single housing in the shape of a bar and includes therein a data input/output unit, an antenna, and a transceiver. The folder-type mobile phone is constructed so that a folder is rotatably connected to a single bar-type housing by a hinge device. For example, the folder-type mobile phone may have a structure in which the folder is rotatably coupled to the main body by means of a hinge device, keys are disposed on the main body side, and a display is disposed on the folder side, which may be advantageous in miniaturization and portability.
Such a folder-type mobile phone is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,865,406.
In addition, the mobile phone may be categorized as a swing-type or a sliding-type according to the manner in which it opens/closes. The swing-type mobile phone is configured so that two housings face each other and one of the housings may swing away from the other housing to open the mobile terminal. The sliding-type mobile phone is configured so that two housings thereof face each other, one of which slides in a longitudinal direction along the other housing, thereby opening/closing the mobile terminal.
A swing-type mobile phone is disclosed in Korean Patent Application No. 2005-28254, which was filed by the assignee of the present application.
However, in the mobile phone of that application, a 4-direction key is disposed on the swing housing, which restricts widening of the display disposed on the swing housing. Therefore, in order to widen the display, the swing housing may need to be larger.
Further, if the 4-direction key is disposed on the main housing side, the main housing may become larger due to the installation of the 4-direction key. This may disadvantageously limit miniaturizing and slimming of the mobile phone.
Of course, keys selected among keys of a keypad on the main housing may be used both as functional keys and 4-direction keys, but it may be inconvenient for the user to manipulate the keys. Therefore, a mobile phone that can mount a 4-direction key without variance in the main body size and used independently in a specified mode is desirable.